A Beautiful Day
by MysticKid
Summary: "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become." -C.G.Jung Rumplestiltskin's 'real life' metamorphosis from darkness to light following "Once Upon A Time's" epic 4th Season finale.


The gardens teamed around them with the color of flowers and the songs of birds. Grass carpeted soft beneath their feet and protective trees stirred gently overhead in a fresh breeze. The few clouds that dared drift into such a clear blue sky only perched respectfully on the horizon. It might have been a beautiful day, but it wasn't one for Belle.

"I'm sorry. It takes time." Dr. Whale tried to look her in the eye but guiltily choose to study his shoe tops, distractedly trying to brush away the wisteria that dangled from over the garden entrance a little too close to his nose.

"But I, WE, need him!" She protested.

He wished Belle would let him leave before the sneeze he felt coming on hhhaaaadddd, "ACHOO!" Too late.

"I know, I know. But there's nothing physically wrong." Whale dabbed at his reddening nose,"He's just..." Sniffle. "He's just..."

"Not here." Archie Hopper finished the sentence as he joined them from across the yard.

Behind him, Nurse Ratchet in full uniform and carrying a tray, approached a half-blanketed figure tucked neatly into the corner of an ornate, but comfortable, garden bench. A stubble-faced Rumplestiltskin followed her with his eyes but only as she came nearer did he begin to stir.

The nurse revealed an ordinary razor from under a towel, obviously intending to give him a much needed shave. He writhed back in his seat, shaking his head wildly, a look of horror on his face. "NO! NOOOO!" Rumple was not seeing a nurse or a razor, but the witch Zelena with the Dark One's dagger in her hand. She was saying,"You need a shave, sweetheart," her voice mocking, hating. Suddenly he was back in her cage, and she was much, much too close, the dagger scraping down his cheek.

"No,No,No..." he moaned.

Belle, Whale, and Hopper turned to see the Nurse wrestling Gold for the razor. "I was, umpf, only trying, urg, to.. give you ...a shave!"

"NURSE!" called Whale as he and Hopper rushed over, each grabbing an arm. "Get off of me. You can't! Don't!" Rumple shouted.

Belle, close behind, put her hands around his. He stopped struggling instantly, looking down at them with astonishment and then wonderingly up at her face as if all but her was instantly forgotten.

The nurse safely withdrew the razor and backed away repositioning cap and hairdo. Whale irritably waved her away.

Belle knelt done before Gold trying to smile, holding his attention as carefully and tenderly as if it were a bird with a broken wing. "It's all right, Rumple. I'm here. It's all right." Whale and Hopper exchanged glances and warily let go of him.

"Thank you, we'll talk later." Belle commanded as only the daughter of a King knows how.

"You're sure? I'll be glad to stay." Hopper asked. But she only answered with a distracted shake of her head.

The two men left reluctantly, deep in discussion, "He's finally snapping out of it?" asked Dr. Whale. Hopper replied nodding, "Yes, it's time." "What, WHO is he, if he's no longer the Dark One?" asked Whale. Worriedly, they looking back one last time before going out of sight.

"Rumple? Rumple, my love, can you hear me?" His expression changed as did Belle's face, at least as he saw it. It was now Milah's face, Milah, his first wife. "Love? How could anyone love you!? Coward!" she spat the words out at him. The pitching deck of the Jolly Roger was again beneath his feet. Resentment, hatred welled up in him like a firy tide that overwhelmed everything else. He plunged a hand deep into her chest.

But it was Belle, it was really Belle before him! "You already have my heart, my love." she said calmly, without fear. He looked at his hand resting harmlessly on her breast and her hand over his. He could feel her heart beating. He pulled his hand away. "I, I thought... Belle!" he croaked hoarsely, I could have, I could have harmed you!"

"No, no, you never would. You couldn't, you can't." But it was no longer her voice calling to him from a distance, it was Cora's. Cora who his darkness loved more than any other. She smiled that wise, cold smile of her's, saying: "Don't you see? It's already gone. Love is weakness. Now I have no heart to lose."

"But, you did love me once, didn't you!? You admit, ad, admitted it. ...You admitted it!"

"Yes, yes, Rumple," Belle answered. He leaned back grabbing Belle's wrists so hard it made her wince, for now what he saw rising up behind her was the Shadow from Neverland. "Belle!" He drew back, but the Shadow had him now as if it had never really let the child in him get away.

Regina and Henry arrived with Hopper and started to make their way to the entrance of the back garden. Henry looked angry, "But he tried to kill me and he HURT you, Mom!"

"And if he hadn't, we might all still be stuck in Isaac's book! Those wedding bells were already ringing, Henry. Whether Gold realized it or not, what he did gave you what you needed to become an author and it cost him his happy ending."

"Then I really was his undoing?"

Hopper interrupted her answer, "You told him?" But before she could confirm or deny it, Hopper stopped in his tracks in alarm. They followed his gaze.

"Don't let him take me! No Poppa! Please! Help Me!" It was a voice that they had never heard coming from before. He had drawn himself up onto a bench while hanging on as if for dear life to Belle's hand as she sat tumbled on the ground before him. "NOOOO!" Gold curled even tighter and it was clear Belle was being hurt by his frantic grip. They rushed to her aid.

Regina exclaimed: "What is he doing!?" Belle could only shake her head, "He's, he's hallucinating!" Henry awkwardly tried to help Archie free Belle. Regina then followed suit repeating even louder at Gold as if to break his concentration, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

Voices merged and repeated in Rumple's mind and the grip of the Shadow became the pull of a swirling green portal's vortex, "Poppa! What are you doing!? Poppa please! YOU COWARD! Don't break our deal!"

"BAE!" The sheer force of the word literally startled all of them away from him, except for Henry, who now was the one in Gold's desperate grasp. "Bae? I, I, I, want to come with you, Bae. I want to come with you. Please Bae, please?"

"Let me go!" Henry exclaimed, struggling, not knowing whether to feel anger or disgust. Rumple drew him into a desperate embrace saying, "please Bae, I'm sorry. Forgive me, Bae."

"You're not my Father! He died because of you! LET ME GO!"

Rumple held him out at arms length again staring hard, searching his face in abject confusion.

"Poppa." It was another, familiar voice that no one else could hear that now called to Rumple, "Poppa. Let go." He looked up, releasing Henry who quickly stepped back out of range. "Son? No... not... no room. No... room. No..."

"You promised Poppa. Don't break another one."

"What?" Gold shakily got to his feet to stand face to face with Neil.

"You said you owed me, Poppa. You made a deal."

"I, I don't understand."

"It's time to pay up, Poppa."

"All right... what's the price?"

"The rest of your life."

"Yes?"

"Are you afraid, Popa?"

"Yes."

"Are you weak?"

"Yes."

"I'll let you in on a secret," Neal leaned close to his father's ear and whispered, "everybody is."

Rumple whimpered almost breaking down again. "I, I miss you, son."

"I know. I know. But you gotta be there for me, Pop, 'cause I can't be. This is my son, your son's ...son. He's the author now and he'll be the best that ever was. But he needs you."

"Yes, I finally understood the prophesy, when I remembered ...myself... what wasn't real and what was, from my, my dream."

"Yeah, okay. Now that that's out of the way there's Emma, I love her and you should too. She's family.

"Yes, I, I understand."

"She's family, right!? RIGHT?" Neal pressed and Rumple nodded almost reaching out to him but thinking better of it. His son was now looking nearly transparent as he continued: "But now she's got the same thing gnawing at her insides that got into you."

"Emma's now the Dark One?" At that statement, Regina stepped forward to study Gold's expression which was now resembling more and more the Gold she was used to; "How do you know that?" But he did not hear her.

"Yeah, Poppa ...you're free." With that, Neal evaporated entirely.

"No, please, don't go." Gold put out a hand into nothing. Belle quickly took it into hers as she always had and always will. "Belle," he whispered and for the first time since being cleaved from the Dark One's dagger he truly looked at her -and for the first time in his life- believed. He took her hands in his and buried his face in them falling to his knees, "Belle."

Regina and Henry automatically reached out as if to break his seeming fall, but Hopper stopped them and gathered them away, "It's alright now, whatever happens next, will be, will be... right. Leave them alone."

They sat alone together for some time, Belle and Rumple, there in the garden, with the color of flowers and the songs of birds. Grass carpeting soft beneath their feet and protective trees not even stirring overhead. The now more ominous clouds on the horizon had drifted closer but were still nowhere near.

Rumple took a deep breath and stretched out his arms as if just awakening. He looked about them as if just noticing the world they were in. "Hmm," he said, "What a beautiful day."


End file.
